How's Your Mother-in-Law?

How's Your Mother-in-Law? was a comedy game show hosted by Wink Martindale that aired on ABC from December 4, 1967 to March 1, 1968.^[1]

The daytime series was produced and created by Chuck Barris during a period which, as he recounted in his autobiography Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, had him creating horrible formats due to the success of The Newlywed Game and The Dating Game (he also created The Family Game earlier in 1967).

Gameplay[]

Three mothers-in-law were represented by comedians acting as "defense attorneys". On the first week, the comedians were George Carlin, Richard Dawson, and Larry Storch; the show later included Nipsey Russell, Milt Kamen and Richard Dawson.

After each comedian presented his "case", a "jury" of five unmarried men and five unmarried women picked the mother-in-law they'd most like to have. That mother-in-law received $100. Each woman's son-in-law provided information (usually derogatory) to the comedians before the show.

Episode status[]

Four episodes are held at the UCLA Film and Television Archive – the Premiere, Episode #12 (December 19), and the show's two pilots (titled Here Come the Mothers-in-Law).^[2]

References[]

• David Schwartz, Steve Ryan and Fred Wostbrock, "The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows," second edition, 1995.
• Wesley Hyatt, "The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television."

External links[]

• How's Your Mother-in-Law? at IMDb

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